EghtesadOnline: Startups account for 0.8% of Iran’s gross domestic product, the deputy for education, research and technology with the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade said.

“The ministry plans to guide production and economic enterprises toward knowledge-based activities through collaborations between the industrial sector and universities,” Barat Qobadian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

According to Hassan Aqa-Kassiri, the head of the ministry’s Technology Development and Advanced Industries Center, as of October 2016, Iran had a total of 2,715 startup businesses, 239 of which were industrial companies.

Industrial startups account for more than 8% of all the knowledge-based companies in Iran, yet register 72% of the entire sales of knowledge-based products, Financial Tribune reported.